A bittersweet of completing tasks, seeing a change from the beginning of the week to today, and knowing our time was coming to an end. 

Before we embark on our trips to Iglesia Cristiana (Discipulos de Cristo) en la Capri, I remind the group that our tasks are two fold, to complete meaningful work and to build life long relationships with our brothers and sisters here in San Jose, Costa Rica. 

We begin the week being a little unsure of one another, feeling each other out, and building trust between us. Through work and conversation we grow to love one another, reminding each other that we are brought together by our Creator. Rather than our differences separating us, we acknowledge that they make us stronger and we compliment one another. 

Maria Luisa, one of the women of the church, took us on a walk in the neighborhood this afternoon. We saw where the church began (now a Pentecostal church), bought drinks at a local soda, played in a neighborhood park, and enjoyed local popscicles called bolis. 

When we returned, the women had pastries ready for us and then served us corn on the cob. 

Then the bittersweet time began. We joined hands and prayed. Praying with Costa Ricans is much different than for us central United States people, here they PRAY. I mean they pray fervently and you feel the holy washing down upon you. 

We ended our time with lots of pictures and tears. We assured our Costa Rican family that while we may be separated by miles, a part of our hearts remain with here with them. In the pictures, you will note the prayer shawl we gave them draped over their pulpit. A physical piece of us will reain regardless of our distance. 

This evening, we walked to the mall where we looked around and ate at the food court. Taco Bell for the win! Ah, Costa Rica!

Tomorrow morning is an early beginning with our ride arriving at 5am to take us to the airport. We will arrive back in Kansas City tomorrow evening. 

See you Sunday morning OPCC!

Today was spent doing more painting. Painting benches, classrooms, and doors. The church plans to relocate the kitchen to one of the classrooms in the future so getting it painted is a step in that direction. 

We are continuing to build connnections and learning relationships between our Costa Rican friends. The pastor has been with us quite a bit even though he works as a mechanic through the week. It has been a blessing to be with so many members of the church through the days. 

One of the women, Virginia, was concerned with our sun burns and put cream on us saying it would cure the sun burn. When I read the container it made me giggle, looks like she's just using diaper rash ointment!

Our driver, Danny, has been incredible. He or his father have driven us on each trip. Today was his last day with us so we had to take a group picture. 

Tonight we will walk around the neighborhood to explore and find a local restaurant. 

Today began at 5:15 am when we woke up in order to get ready for being picked up at 5:45 am. The journey to catch a boat out to Tortuga took us about 3 hours including a stop at a local restaurant for breakfast. The journey through the city, country, and mountains is a long one. 

Once we arrived at the boat we joined a few other tourists for the boat ride to Tortuga Island. Unfortunately we did not see any dolphins this time around but we did snorkel which blessed us with fabulous views of some amazingly beautiful fish. 

The kids (and I use this term loosely as the term is relative to a 50 year old and our kids range from 14 to 26) played frisbee on the beach and took a banana boat ride. 

Unfortunately, despite our use of handfuls of sunscreen applied multiple times, many of us still acquired some deep sunburns. Tomorrow may not be very pleasant!

The day tired everyone out so we decided to grab food from the grocery store up the street and have a dinner of sandwiches, chips, and local ice cream. 

Tonight we will get a good rest to prepare us for more work with our friends at the church. 

Today was a combination of painting and beautiful relationship building. We painted walls, tables, benches, and the chancel space. Paint also ended up on shorts, shirts, body parts, and hair! We ate amazing fruit and ate delicious food prepared by the women on the church. A lot was accomplished today in a few hours! 

After leaving the church we headed  to downtown San Jose where we walked around observing the local life, shopped for local products, and just breathed in the Costa Rican culture. Even the rain didn't bring us down as we walked down to the artisan market. 

We completed our day out with dinner at a local restaurant where we feasted on some amazing food followed by some tres leche cake. 

While the work of painting the church is important, the relationships that are being developed and deepened are the foundation of our work as disciples. We find commonality in our identity as children of God and we love one another despite our cultural or language differences. The love between us binds our churches to one another in a lasting embrace and together we are stronger. 

So tomorrow we give the church a break while we become tourists in this amazing land. We will head to Tortuga Island where we will snorkle, play in the water, eat fresh caught fish, and enjoy this amazing land that God has created. 

To say our brothers and sisters at Discipulos de Cristo en la capri missed us would be an understatement and the feeling was mutual. We were greeted yesterday morning with big hugs and a loving welcome to their space and into their lives. Yesterday we spent the morning at the church folllowed by a trip to Orosi Hot Springs. If you would like to see pictures of our experience yesterday check out our Facebook page. 

Today we began our work at the church. We painted the inside of the church as well as their covered outdoor space that they use for additional meeting space, meal space, and a pathway for the restrooms. Since we were here five years ago they have made some wonderful changes to their space. They moved the pastor's office to the back of the building giving them additional space at their entrance, they also moved the restroom (and added a second) near their classroom space.  We will need to do a second coat of paint on some of the walls tomorrow. I believe we will also be taking apart some chairs and painting the frames. 

Costa Ricans are very sensible. What I mean by this is they are not wasteful. Where we as Americans tend to throw things out when they are broken or when they have been used up in our eyes, Costa Ricans find other uses for them or they find ways to fix them. Every time I come to spend time with these beautiful people I am made more aware of how our society does harm to the earth by our carelessness. 

Our partners in Christ here in Costa Rica are so loving. We have built a relationship and bond with them that has withstood ten years now. We are family. We presented a prayer shawl to them on Sunday during worship. We told them how we prayed over it and blessed it and when they see this prayer shawl we hope they remember that we are with them always regardless of the placement of our physical bodies. 

They fed us an amazing meal of corn tortillas, black beans, and a mixture of meat, potatoes and vegetables. So delicious! They also made some fresh fruit juice made out of bananas pineapple, and papaya. 

After returning to the hostel we rested for a few minutes then headed up the street to the grocery store to pick up some snacks, followed by some pizza and empanadas at a local eatery. 

Tomorrow is another full day so rest is needed tonight. Prayers for our family and friends in the states as well as our church family Siganing off for now. More news tomorrow!